Who here is a prog person and who here is a metal person.

[Ultimetalhead]

Metal, definitely.

[WindMaster]

Love metal, but I'm a proggie.

[Lowdz]

I come from a hard rock background really, some metal but not thrash or worse. I was a Rush fan from early on though. I was attracted to DT because I was a fan of the Neo-Classical widdly guitarists. Not really a prog fan at all but love those elements in DT. The only prog bands I listen to really are Marillion (Fish era) and Rush, and a bit of Spock's Beard.)

[Elaitch]

More prog than metal, nowadays at least. Had you asked me like year ago it would probably have been the other way around But definitely both. As with many of you in this thread, Dream Theater led the way for me into progland.

[InertSolo]

Metal no question. There's nothing like it to me. But of course I love Prog music as well, especially bands like King Crimson, Rush, and Haken.

[Wolfpacker96]

It's interesting how some here are calling Dream Theater straight prog and others are calling them metal.  Then, of course others are combining the two, prog-metal.  It just points out how putting music in a certain category is pointless.  Especially with a band like Dream Theater.  Like most younger kids today keep telling me Black Sabbath is goth.  I never even heard that term (at least pertaining to music) until the at least the 80's.  Black Sabbath just made kick ass rock-n-roll.  Why does it need to have a category?  I guess I'm more of a metal head, but I like all sorts of things as long as it's good music.

Well if DT was a Polka Band and you didn't know it, you might be pretty pissed if you spent 15 bucks for the album. Music needs catagories. Going into a record store would be futile without them. DT is known as a progressive metal band. That is a good catagorization for them. There is a whole genre accurately known as that. Sabbath would be a Rock band.

Stores that don't have a prog-metal section will list them under rock or metal. I've even seen the albums under both at the same store.

Well, of course having some categories is OK, I just think we get too caught up in them and have way too many categories.  Of course you'd have categories like Rock, Pop, Classical, etc.  But check this out:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punk_rock_subgenres  Do we really need to have 28 different genres of punk?  And it doesn't even mention emo, which started out as "emotional punk".  I have a teenage daughter which is the only reason I know this.    I guess Iron Maiden would be considered punk metal, well at least the first few albums.

And how many people walk into a record store (do they even exist!) and buy something not having a clue what the music is before hand?

There are, as you know, many genres of metal, rock, pop, and country as well.  I just think it's gotten out of hand with the categories is all.  We put bands in categories and expect them to stay in a category, which is also ridiculous.  Really successful bands hardly ever just stay in a single type of music all the time, so why should we try to put them in a specific category.  I mean think of bands like The Beatles, Fleetwood Mac, The Eagles, Styx, Journey, King Crimson, etc.  They play things that cross all sorts of genres.  How do you categorize them?  I say just call it rock and be done with it.

[PS Head]

Without doubt prog....its what turned me onto Dream Theater in the first place.In saying that,since listening to DT,i've found my appreciation for heavier stuff has gone up quite a few notches.Bands that i've listened to for years inclued Genesis,Yes,It Bites,Frost*,Spocks Beard,Rush,Marillion.....but since my Dt revelation,i now love bands like Haken.Why was there no poll with this thread..would've been interesting to find out where forum members prefrences lay.

[LudwigVan]

Prog

[deslock]

Prog

The only metal bands I like (apart from the occasional Metallica song) are DT and Iron Maiden, which are both proggy.

[HarlequinForest]

I listened exclusively to metal before I got into DT.  Now pretty much listen almost exclusively to prog, metal or otherwise.

[obscure]

51 metal 49 prog

[kirksnosehair]

I like both, I guess it depends on my mood.  When I write music it comes out as a blend of metal and prog, mostly on the melodic side, maybe leaning a bit in the powermetal direction......

If asked to choose between prog or metal, I don't think I'd be able to choose either or.

I will say, though, that in the last 10 years or so my taste in music has moved further and further away from straight metal and more and more towards progressive metal.

[holeinthesky]

Coming from the vinyl era, categories I once new as hard rock got moved to metal and so on.
So I gave up with all categories and have to go with (If they "rock" the house i"m there).

[Millais]

depends on times of the month i suppose. more prog than metal though, as a generalisation. although I am digging bands such as Periphery at the moment so that balance could change.

[DebraKadabra]

It's like choosing one of your children. Can't do that.

Yep, I feel this way too.

[The Silent Cody]

I would say that I'm totally prog metal guy My favourite bands - DT, Scar Symmetry, Angra, Helloween (not prog-metal so much ), Mercenary etc... So I can say - prog metal Oh, and Evergrey

[Millais]

....there can never be too much prog in a DT song.

[jammindude]

I consider myself to be firmly in BOTH camps....

I started with Rush and Triumph.   But I quickly discovered early thrash.   I was listening to the big 4 as well as some of the most extreme metal of the mid-late 80's.  Exodus, Exciter, Venom, Sodom, Destruction, Nuclear Assault, Testament, Overkill, Forbidden, Bathory, Celtic Frost...pretty much EVERYTHING that was on Metal Blade, Megaforce or Combat Records between 84-88.   Then I started to get into the early college scene (Jane's Addiction and the grunge scene three years before Nevermind hit).    When I first heard Dream Theater, I was getting deeper into the death, thrash and black metal scene of the time.   Obituary, Deicide, Bolt Thrower and the like.   Then I heard Dream Theater and thought it was the biggest Fates Warning rip off I had ever heard...at first. 

But after my son was born, and I got off drugs and cleaned up my lifestyle...I found I just wasn't that pissed off anymore.  (and actually realized that the constant one-dimensional glut of extreme music *was* (despite my protestations) having an effect on my outlook on life, and my attitude and temperament)  So I started getting back into prog.  Started listening to Dream Theater, re-discovered Rush, got into Savatage...and I just started taking off from there. 

These days, I still like extreme bands that are well thought out.   I *LOVE* Nevermore.  I like alot of BTBAM's stuff, but find it a bit too random sometimes.   But OTOH, I've really been listening to alot of very old Yes and Genesis, and well as bands like Camel and Gentle Giant.   Soon, I'm going to be checking out more King Crimson.

I really can't say I prefer one over the other....but I guess my state of mind is more prog these days.

[dongringo]

I'm definitely a hard rock and metal guy. The only prog band I like is Pink Floyd and I'm not sure if they are even prog but other than that I like a few progressive metal bands like DT(who are my favorite band of all time), Porcupine tree, Symphony X, Pain of Salvation, Queensryche, Fates Warning and Opeth.

You can't categorize Queensryche. Geoff Tate said so. 

[Zook]

I like a mixture of both, but I also like them separate.

[Juular]

I'm an all kinds of stuff person, I couldn't choose one over the other, I like the variety.